Rocker control for circuit breaker with indication of position



1970 J. N. ORTS 3,538,285

ROCKER CONTROL FOR CIRCUIT BREAKER WITH INDICATION OF POSITION FiledDec; 10, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 3,538,285 ROCKER CONTROL FOR CIRCUITBREAKER WITH INDICATION OF POSITION Filed Dec. 10, 1968 J. N. ORTS Nov.3, I970 2 Sheets-Sheet z United States Patent Int. Cl. H01l1 3/02, 9/16US. Cl. 200-467 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A rocker control for acircuit breaker with a movable indication of the operative position andhaving an opaque shell with a central transparent window in a controlmember above a rotary changeover member. The rotary changeover memberwith movable lateral rods therethrough has at least two stabilizedangular positions and at least two portions each bearing an indicationof the operating position opposite the transparent window. The windowmaintains a central location for either indication and movement of partsby having the axis of rotation of the control member above and adjacentto the axis of rotation of the changeover member.

The invention relates to a rocker control for a circuit breaker with amovable indication of position, the said indication appearingintermittently on the body itself of the operating handle and adjacentto its rocking axis.

Another object of the invention is to cause the indication to appeartransparently in the handle so that the indications of position cannotbe damaged from the outside.

A still further object of the invention is to combine said device with asudden break contact control known per se.

Indications of the position of a handle have already been proposed bymeans of a circular incline integral with the handle, said inclinesliding inwardly of the cover of the apparatus when the handle isrocked, which necessitates two parts of an incline which disappearsintermittently on either side of the handle. Furthermore, the indicatingpart to be read is never in the centre of the apparatus. If thereforeseveral circuit breakers placed side by side are in a differentposition, the indications shown are not in line, which is inaesthetic onan electric control panel. Moreover, the inscriptions fixed or engravedon the handle itself may be scratched or broken from the outside.

The invention overcomes said disadvantages by means of a very simpleeclipsing mechanism incorporated in the handle.

The control in accordance with the invention is essentiallycharacterized by the fact that it comprises a rocker with at least twostable positions which receives its motion from a control knob, itselfrockingly mounted, which is placed above it and engages the same bymeans of two lateral inclines with alternating thrusts, the pivoting ofthe control knob thus preceding that of the rocker, whereas the latterhas a surface directed towards the lower central part of the controlknob, the said surface thus bringing in front of a central window of thecontrol knob one of its parts bearing at least one inscription or thelike.

The pivoting axes of the rocker and of the control knob are offset inheight relative to each other so that, when the rocker occupies one orthe other of its stable positions, two different parts of its surfaceturned towards the control knob are opposite the central window of thelatter, each of said parts being provided with a different inscription.

The control knob has the shape of an opaque shell, a central window ofwhich is transparent.

The rocker is advantageously stabilized in position by means of a spur,included in its lower part, which pushes a ball subjected to the actionof a return-spring.

The alternately high and low positions of each side of the rockertransmit, by force, their motion through the action of two bosses onsliding rods controlling the circuit breaker.

Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent in the course of the following description when read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings illustrating diagrammaticallyand merely by way of example, an embodiment of the invention.

In the said drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a rocker control for a circuitbreaker with indication of position, for carrying out the invention;

FIG. 2 is a broken view in perspective of the difierent constituentparts of the rocker control shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are longitudinal axial sections of the said control shownrespectively in its two operative stable positions;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are detail views: showing, respectively in longitudinaland cross sections, the control knob itself.

The rocker control shown by way of example in the drawings essentiallyincludes:

A main body 1 of general cylindrical shape the head 1A of which has atransverse slot bored therein, inside which may pivot, about a spindle3, a first rocker 4 forming a cam, under the action of a second rocker 5forming a control knob, itself pivoting on a spindle 6;

Two lateral control fingers 7A and 7B capable of sliding longitudinallyand alternately in diametrally opposed grooves 8 made in the main body1, under the action of the rocking cam 4. These two fingers are providedwith feet 9A and 9B permitting the actuation of a sudden break contactof any type known per se and therefore not shown in the drawing;

A holding body 10 in the shape of a cylindrical ring fits on the mainbody 1 to maintain the control fingers 7A and 7B in place in theirgrooves 8 while allowing them to slide in the latter. The ring 10 isadvantageously provided with two small flexible tongues 11A, 11Bprovided with lugs which hook on corresponding shoulders 12 of the mainbody 1;

Finally, a collar 13 surrounding the head 1A of the main body 1 is heldin place by the holding ring 10. The collar is advantageously providedat its base with a thread 14 in order to permit easy attachment of theunit on a circuit breaker case.

According to an essential characteristic of the present 3 invention, therocking cam 4 pivoting on the spindle 3 is of the two stable positiontype. To this end, it comprises in its lower portion a central spur 14which is in contact with a stabilizing ball or roller 15 subjected tothe action of a return-spring 16 housed in a middle passage 17 made inthe main body 1.

Moreover, the rocker is provided with two bosses 4A and 4B which bear,respectively, on the heads of the sliding control fingers 7A and 7B. Therocker 4 thus occasions the movement of said fingers 7A and 7B, inopposite directions relatively to each other, when it passes from theposition shown in FIG. 3 to the one of FIG. 4 and vice versa, thefingers 7A and 7B being subjected to flexible recalls of the controlledcontacts (not shown).

Finally, the rocker 4 comprises on its upper face, which has the shapeof a very flat dihedron, two notches 18A, 18B in which one may fix anysuitable inscription: open, closed, running, stop, etc., designated bythe references A and B in FIGS. 3 and 4.

The rocking cam 4 with two stable positions receives its movement fromthe second rocker 5 forming a control knob and which is placed above thelatter.

As is best seen in FIGS. 5 and 6, the control knob 5 is constituted by ashell of general parallelepipedic shape open in its lower portion so asto cap the upper position of the rocking cam 4.

The lateral faces 5A and 5B each comprise a lower section provided: onthe one hand with a circular central part 18 the centre of which issituated at 0, which may rotate on a support 19 of corresponding shapeprovided on each face of the slot 2 of the main body 1; on the otherhand, with two lateral inclines 20A, 20B capable of entering intocontact with the top of lateral abutment surfaces 21A and 2113 providedon the rocking cam 4, as is clearly seen in FIG. 2.

In order to reduce to a maximum the dimensions of the rocking control asa whole, the spindle 6 about which pivots the control knob 5 is notplaced at the centre of the circular portion 18, but a little lower asis clearly seen in FIGS. 3 and 4.

As a result of this staggering of the spindle 6', there occurs arelative movement between the control knob and the rocker 4 when thelatter pivot. In order to permit this relative movement, the spindle 6which is fixed in the head 1A of the main body 1 passes through twoslots curved in opposite directions and made respectively, the one 22 inthe cam 4, the other 23 in the control knob 5.

The upper face of the control knob 5 comprises a central transparentwindow 24 whereas all the rest of said face is made opaque in anymanner, for example by means of diamond cuts.

The operation of the rocker control for a circuitbreaker with movableindication of position in accordance with the intervention justdescribed is the following.

The different movable elements of the unit being in the relativepositions shown in FIG. 3, it will be seen that it is the inscription Aof the rocker 4 which is below the transparent window 24 of the controlknob 5 and is thus the only one which is then visible to the operator.For this position of the control knob 5, the control finger 7A is in thelow position and the finger 7B in the high position. I

If one pushes the control knob in the direction of the arrow F thelatter will pivot due to the sliding of the circular portion 18 on thecorresponding support 19. The incline 2013 will in its turn cause therocker 4 to rotate in the same direction while bearing on the abutment21B of the latter. During rotation, the spur 14 of the rocker 4 pushesthe ball 15 against the action of the return-spring 16 and passes intothe position shown in FIG. 4.

In view of the staggering between the two spindles 3 and 6, the portionof the rocker 4 bearing the inscriptions A and B will move a distancegreater than that of the window 24 of the control knob 5 which, at theend of its travel, strikes the other face of the collar 13. During 4this phase, the slots 22 and 23 slide along the fixed spindle 6.

Due to this arrangement, it will be seen that when the unit reaches theposition shown in FIG. 4, it is the inscription B which is henceforthopposite the transparent window 24 and which then becomes the only onevisible to the operator.

While pivoting, the rocker 4 has caused the control finger 7B to descendto the low position and permitted the rising of the finger 7A to thehigh position, which has had for result to actuate a sudden breakcontact (not shown).

It is obvious that if one pushes the control knob in the direction ofthe arrow F the device will operate in the opposite direction and willresume the initial position of FIG. 3.

It should moreover be noted that, with the object of having the window24 of the control knob 5 maintain its position whatever be theindication A or B of the rocker 4, the pivoting axis 0 of the knob 5 isplaced directly adjacent to said window 24. This is rendered possible bythe fact that the pivoting of the knob 5 is effected by the sliding ofthe circular part 18 of the latter on the corresponding cradles 19provided in the faces of the slot 2 of the main body 1.

It is obvious that the invention has been described and illustrated onlyin an explanatory but by no means limitative manner and that changes indetail may be made therein, in conformity with its spirit, Withoutcoming out of its scope.

Thus, in particular, one may consider a rocker 4 with more than twostable positions, the spur 14 in this case being replaced by an elementcomprising the number of recesses corresponding to the number of thedesired stable positions. To each of said positions evidentlycorresponds a suitable inscription on the upper face of the rocker 4which is then polygonal.

Moreover, the indications may be made luminous by providing the controlhead with a signalling lamp.

I claim:

1. A rocker control for a circuit breaker with a movable indication ofthe operative position comprising a main support,

a holding body in the shape of a cylindrical ring connected to said mainsupport,

a collar surrounding said main support and held in position by saidholding body,

a rotary changeover member having at least two stabilized angularpositions supported in said main support and having at least two surfaceportions each bearing an indication of the operating position,

a rocker control member in the shape of an opaque shell having atransparent window at its center situated substantially adjacent to theaxis of rotation of said control member and in a position for separatelyviewing each of said indications of operating position,

and longitudinally movable lateral rods movably supported in said mainsupport to connect said change over member to a circuit breaker device.

2. A rocker control for a circuit breaker in accordance with claim 1,wherein said main support has a cradle therein and said control memberhas a circular sector bearing on said cradle,

said control member having its axis of rotation placed above the axis ofrotation of said changeover memher.

3. A rocker control for circuit breaker in accordance with claim 1,wherein said changeover member has lateral projections and said controlmember has lateral inclines cooperating with said lateral projections.

4. A rocker control for a circuit breaker in accordance References CitedWith claim 1, fUIthGI characterized by UNITED STATES PATENTS saidchangeover member having stabilization means including a spur and a balland return spring coop- 3,053,337 9/1962 Prohaska et crating with saidspur located With the axis of said 25,156 12/1965 Sahrbacker 200 172 XRspring passing perpendicularly through the axes of 0 3,250,887 5/1966Sorenson 2O0 172 XR rotation of said control and changeover members.3,377,452 4/1968 Bock et 5. A rocker control for a circuit breaker inaccordance with claim 1, further characterized by HERMAN JONES PnmaryExammer said changeover member provided with boses cooperat- 10 U 8 c1 XR ing with said longitudinally movable lateral rods for 2O0 172 controlof the circuit breaker device.

